(February 7, 2023 - Santa Clarita, CA)
On March 31 and April 1.
What is paranormal? According to the Oxford dictionary, the paranormal is defined as events or phenomena beyond the scope of common scientific understanding. It is a broad genre encompassing everything from UFOs and aliens to ghosts and hauntings, Bigfoot and other cryptids to psychics, and spiritual studies to ancient mysteries. Paranormal topics lack a definite demographic, as men and women of all ages across all socioeconomic grids show interest in these strange and unusual subjects.
Parapod Festival is excited to bring a two-day celebration of the paranormal to Santa Clarita on March 31 and April 1, with events at Santa Clarita’s Mentryville Park and the Hyatt Regency Valencia.
A surprisingly vast number of YouTube channels, TikTok and Instagram accounts, and websites are devoted to the paranormal genre. The amount of content available is astounding, from documentaries to web series to podcasts. No one knows this more than festival director Tony Sweet, whose paranormal video podcast Truth Be Told Paranormal has been in the top 5% of podcasts worldwide for the past decade.
“Although paranormal content is abundant with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views, we never really see these creators –podcasters, investigators, filmmakers– being honored,” states Sweet. “That is why I wanted to develop a platform where all forms of paranormal content could be celebrated.”
Tony Sweet’s Parapod Festival will take place Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1, 2023, in the Santa Clarita Valley, just North of Los Angeles, featuring the one-of-a-kind ParaPod Awards Ceremony to honor podcasters and other paranormal content creators as well as the FilmFreeway Gold film festival for paranormal documentaries.
On Friday the festivities will begin with the daytime film festival screenings of paranormal documentary feature finalists in the Mentryville School House, sponsored by WriterDuet; evening activities include a tour of the haunted Mentryville Mansion with white witch and medium Patti Negri (Ghost Adventures) and spirit circle and star gazing led by Ben Hansen (Fact or Faked Paranormal Files) . Saturday will be a full day at the Hyatt Regency Valencia in Santa Clarita, featuring expert lectures, workshops, and activities, including Native American ceremonial dance, a seance, meditation, sound bath, breathwork, and shamanism. The vendor marketplace, with crystals, books, tarot cards and other collectibles, is also available for shopping on Saturday. The festival’s ParaPod Awards, celebrating all genres of paranormal podcasts and pioneers in the field of paranormal studies, will close out the event on Saturday evening.
Former Santa Clarita mayor and city council member Marsha McLean will officiate the ribbon-cutting for the grand opening of ParaPod Fest, presenting certificates from the city to all event speakers.
The master of ceremonies for the ParaPod Festival will be Jimmy Church, host of the popular Fade to Black podcast. Best-selling author, research scientist, producer, and entrepreneurial impresario Billy Carson (4biddenknowledge with Billy Carson) will receive the festival’s Pioneer Award, and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe (Ancient Aliens, Truth Hunter) will be receiving the festival’s Media Legend Award.
Sweet has drawn a roster of internationally recognized paranormal experts for the conference, including ancient Egypt theorist and geologist Dr. Robert M. Schoch (Ancient Aliens), white witch Patti Negri (Ghost Adventures), Ben Hansen (Fact or Faked Paranormal Files), author and great-great-grandson of Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull Ernie Lapointe, celebrity psychic Char Margolis (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Ronny LeBlanc (Expedition Bigfoot), psychic crime solvers Colby Rebel and Jennifer Shaffer, numerologist Glynis McCants, vampire impresario Father Sebastian, documentarian Caroline Corey, author Craig Campobasso, radio host and spiritualist Sheena Metal, breathwork specialist Bryant Wood (The Circle), social media influencers Jason Horton and Rebecca Leib (Ghost Town podcast), and host of Heart Starts Pounding podcast Kaelyn Moore. More details at https://parapodfestival.com/schedule
“My goal is to spotlight the content creators working in the non-fiction paranormal genre,” says Sweet. “It is a dream come true to give awards to podcasters, filmmakers and investigators who continue to move the paranormal genre closer to the mainstream.”
Tickets to ParaPod Festival start at $25 for individual events at Mentryville; Saturday’s General Admission is $35, and the VIP Weekend Pass includes all events on both days for $175. Parking at both locations is free. For more information about the festival and to purchase tickets, please visit www.parapodfestival.com.
Documentary and short films for the film festival awards can be submitted online via FilmFreeway through February 24, 2023. Podcasts can be submitted for the podcast awards via the secure link on the festival website.